Northern Minerals to jump on renewables at Browns Range

The agreement will see Soluna, an energy storage division owned by Lithium Australia and China’s DLG Energy develop a renewable power and battery storage facility at Browns Range.

Lithium Australia stated that Browns Range was typical of many remote mining operations, with an accommodation camp and processing plant that were reliant on diesel for power generation.

The renewable facility will reduce the entire carbon footprint at Browns Range, initially by lowering the costs associated with diesel power generation at the accommodation camp.

Under the agreement, Soluna will install a solar generator and energy storage system (ESS) without any capital cost to Northern Minerals.

It is expected that the next shipment of Soluna’s suite of modular, rack-mounted ESS will arrive in Australia in September. This will provide the lithium-ion battery power storage solution required at Browns Range.

“Renewable energy won’t work without reliable storage and Soluna offers economical and sustainable solutions,” Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said.

“We look forward to Browns Range becoming a successful renewable energy case study.”

Northern Minerals aims to achieve nameplate capacity at Browns Range during the June quarter.

The only producer of heavy rare earth outside China has produced more than 158,000 kilograms of rare earth carbonate at Browns Range as of December last year.